Sequestration Definitions
Carbon is not considered "sequestered" unless it settles to the ocean floor where it remains for aeons. Most of the carbon that sinks beneath plankton blooms is dissolved and remineralized well above the seafloor and will eventually (days to centuries) return to the atmosphere, negating the original effect.
Advocates argue that modern climate scientists and Kyoto Protocol policy makers define sequestration in much shorter time frames. For example, they recognize trees and grasslands as important carbon sinks. Forest biomass only sequesters carbon for decades, but carbon that sinks below the marine thermocline (100–200 meters) is effectively removed from the atmosphere for hundreds of years, whether it is remineralized or not. Since deep ocean currents take so long to resurface, their carbon content is effectively sequestered by the criterion in use today.
Read more about this topic: Iron Fertilization
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